In the Field

With Bombing, Iraqis Escalate Guerrilla Tactics and Show New Danger

By STEVEN LEE MYERS

Published: March 30, 2003

WITH THE THIRD INFANTRY DIVISION, in central Iraq, March 29 — The explosion of a bomb in a taxi that killed four Army soldiers today at a checkpoint north of the city of Najaf stunned and angered commanders, who saw the division's war dead double in the suicide bombing.

"I don't know what motivated this guy to kill himself," said Capt. Andrew J. Valles, the First Brigade's civil and military affairs officer. "To me, this is not an act of war. It is terrorism: a man in a civilian vehicle killing himself at a checkpoint."

Officers said it was the first successful suicide attack of the war.

Until today, the division had lost only two soldiers, one killed by a reconnaissance sniper and one when a Bradley armored fighting vehicle plunged into a water-filled ditch.

The attack — which also killed the taxi's lone occupant — was a significant escalation of the guerrilla tactics that Iraqi fighters have used to harass the American-led troops arrayed across central and southern Iraq and slow their advance on the capital, Baghdad.

It will almost certainly result in a tightening of security around units spread across hundreds of square miles of Iraq — something a commander here said would only intensify the suffering of innocent civilians.

The soldiers, who were not immediately identified, pending notification of their relatives, were part of the Third Infantry Division's First Brigade.

Those troops quickly advanced deep into Iraq, reaching this flat scrub desert north of Najaf last Sunday. But they have remained here since, as fighting continued on their flanks and at their rear.

Captain Valles, voicing a sentiment among soldiers here, expressed frustration not only at the tactics of Iraqi fighters, but at the slowdown in the military advance toward Baghdad. "This is what happens when we just sit here," he said.

The bombing, which occurred around 11:30 a.m. local time, followed a recent lull in fierce fighting around Najaf, a city of more than 100,000 on the Euphrates River that the division encircled earlier this week to cut off Iraqi attempts to reinforce hundreds of paramilitary fighters there.

Within minutes of the bombing, three other taxis tried to bolt through another Army checkpoint on the road into Najaf, but were destroyed by Bradley armored vehicles, which killed an unknown number of Iraqis.

Col. William F. Grimsley, the commander of the First Brigade, said it did not appear that those taxis were packed with explosives, but he speculated that they might have been part of a coordinated strike at the edges of the division's defenses.

"It certainly happened near simultaneously," he said.

The Iraqis, he added, appeared to have adopted new tactics after suffering hundreds of losses in ineffective clashes with the armored units encircling Najaf.

"It seems like an act of desperation to me," he said of the suicide bombing.

Officers here said soldiers had captured vehicles filled with explosives since rolling into Iraq nine days ago, though it was unclear whether they were intended to be car bombs.

Until now, suicide attacks have not been a tactic of Saddam Hussein's government in either this war or the first gulf war.

A paramilitary group called Saddam fedayeen, however, includes a cell of fighters, shrouded in white, who have publicly declared they would launch suicide attacks against American invaders.

The taxi that exploded today — like the other three — was typical of those in Baghdad and other cities: a four-door sedan painted in orange and white checkerboards.

At the checkpoint, guarded by armored vehicles and infantry soldiers, the taxi stopped before a barricade with a sign in Arabic ordering vehicles to stop, according to officers' accounts. The taxi's driver beckoned to the soldiers to approach. When four did, the taxi exploded.

No other soldiers were injured in the attack.

Colonel Grimsley said the driver, like many of the fighters encountered here in recent days, appeared to be wearing civilian clothes.

Restrictions imposed on journalists traveling with the military prohibit discussing some details of military operations, including in this case the exact location of today's bombing.

Although Army forces occupy vast swaths of desert along the Euphrates, they have tried not to cut off all civilian traffic, trying to preserve what Colonel Grimsley called a delicate balance between security and "letting the local people get on with their lives."

After today's attack, that appears certain to change.

"We'll have to be a little stricter on how we keep things away from us," the colonel said. "Quite frankly, it hurts the civilian population."

Maj. John M. Altman, the brigade's intelligence analyst, said American forces had expected to encounter suicide bombers, but only when they moved into Baghdad and other cities, something they have avoided doing.

Major Altman acknowledged, as have senior commanders in Iraq and Washington, that American forces underestimated the determination of some Iraqis to resist.

He attributed that determination to the fact that many more Iraqis might have a stake in Mr. Hussein's rule than anticipated.

"Regime existence equals their existence," he said in an interview only moments before news of the suicide attack reached the brigade's headquarters camp. "They're defending, really, their own way of life."

After advancing so rapidly in the first three days of the war, the Third Infantry Division has ground to a halt, not only because of the fighting around Najaf, but also because skirmishes at the rear have forced delays in delivering ammunition, fuel and other supplies.

Mail arrived late Friday for the first time since the division left Kuwait. Soldiers were warned today that deliveries of bottled water may soon end, forcing them to use towed tankers they call water buffaloes.